Imbalance of Greed
by Miss Shad
Summary: Desire, if left unchecked, can often lead to disaster. Watanuki learns this the hard way when a power-hungry sorcerer covets his ability to attract spirits, with consequences that could prove fatal...unless Doumeki can prevent it.
1. Prologue: Imbalance

Kimihiro Watanuki, Yuko Ichihara, Shizuka Doumeki, Himawari Kunogi, Mokona, Maru and Moro: © CLAMP

Fukinkou Akuyushi, Shiroimi, Kuroimi, Shinyou Dekinai, and Shinrai Dekinai : © ShadowTheHedgehog92 (me)

A/N: Not only is this the first fic I have written in a _VERY_ long time, it's also my first try at a xxxHolic fic, so try to bear with me. Also, an important little detail: this fic likely takes place somewhere in between the end of the "regular" (first) xxxHolic anime and the beginning of xxxHolic Kei, largely because I've only seen a little bit of Kei at the moment.

* * *

_**PROLOGUE**_

"Surely I haven't wandered into the wrong shop…"

He pessimistically glanced out the nearby window, his long black hair covering nearly half of his face. The sky was still a dismal gray and it appeared as if the rain had begun to fall harder over the past couple of minutes he had been in this place.

He had heard a good deal about this place, this little shop in the middle of the city that could grant practically any wish. From what he had heard, he had expected this place to be much more mysterious and magical, and to his disappointment it seemed very ordinary, in fact it almost seemed (to him) more like a house than a bona fide _shop_.

"Why so quiet?" said the voice of the one who had greeted him moments before. "Aren't we ever going to get down to business?"

He turned away from the window and looked across the table, pushing the hair away from his eyes. She, the owner of the shop, was looking at him with much gravity.

"You obviously have a wish," she said, "otherwise you wouldn't have come here. And you seemed to be in quite a hurry to speak with me; you didn't even have time to tell me your name."

"Fukinkou Akuyushi," he told her. "But why do I bother?" he added irritably. "Look at this place! There's nothing special about it! And nothing too special about you either, Yuko…am I really to believe you can grant my wish? Really now?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly in anger, but she tried to remain at ease. "Uncertain now, are you?" she said with a bit of a sly grin. "Just set your doubts aside and tell me, Fukinkou."

He sighed irately and shifted his bright yellow eyes away from her, still reluctant to tell his wish. "I want to be greatly skilled in magic," he said, sounding rather irked, "but my attempts have been nothing but pure trouble." He remained silent and cheerless for a moment after he spoke, as though he did not want to speak further.

"Go on," she urged. "I'm listening."

He grudgingly turned his eyes to her once more. "I'm apparently not powerful enough to do it correctly, because most of my attempts have nearly killed me."

"That's because you are dealing with a kind of magic that humans are not meant to be involved with," she replied firmly.

Almost immediately her words ignited a explosive spark within him. "I came here to have a wish granted," he shouted furiously, "not to have you tell me what I can and cannot do!"

"Tell me your wish then," she said.

"Fine then," he said, trying to calm himself down. "My wish…is to be immortal."

"You want to be immortal so you can dabble in your particular choice of magic without fear of death," she said.

"Exactly," he replied.

She was silent for a moment, pondering his request. "I will grant your wish," she said, "but I require payment."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few thousand yen.

"Not that kind of payment," she said, pushing the money away. "Any wish I grant requires a payment of equal value. In your case, the payment is…your humanity."

He gave her a perplexed look. "What do you mean by that?"

"It means that you will technically remain flesh-and-blood," she replied, "but spirits and other supernatural beings will regard you as one of their own."

He grew silent and contemplated her words for a minute. With beings like that on his side, he could become an exceptionally mighty sorcerer…exactly the goal he had been aiming for. "What kind of spirits and supernatural beings are we talking about here?"

"All kinds," she said.

A very pleased smile slowly came across his face. "Perfect!" he exclaimed joyfully. "And to think I doubted you! I accept the payment fully!"

She sighed and had an almost somber look on her face as she got up from the table. Still, she proceeded to place her hand on top of his head and close her eyes as though she were extremely focused and thinking very deeply.

"You are now immortal," she said, slowly taking her hand off his head. "Your wish is granted."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, **thank you!**" he exclaimed. "You are truly remarkable!"

She said nothing, she only continued to look at him gravely. "You may leave."

"Of course," he said with a bit of a chuckle, getting up from the table. "With my wish granted, I have no reason to remain here anymore." He grabbed his umbrella and began to walk out, but turned and thanked her passionately one last time before he finally headed out the door.

She remained standing there for a long while after he had gone, deep in thought. "I tried to warn him," she said to herself sorrowfully, "but he'll learn his lesson soon enough."


	2. More

_**CHAPTER ONE:**_

He took one last swig of sake before setting the bottle down on the table. He then took a deep breath and squinted as though focusing very intensely, then raised his hand in front of the bottle.

Nothing.

He squinted harder, his eyes now nearly closed. His muscles tensed as though he were trying to utilize every ounce of strength he had on this task.

Still nothing.

He tensed harder and harder, growing rather exhausted. "Come on…" he irritably mumbled through gnashed teeth. He slowly opened his now very tightly closed eyes.

It was finally working. The bottle had now begun to slightly levitate above the table.

"Yes…yes…" he whispered, relieved. He moved his raised hand up higher. "Now, just move up a little more…"

The bottle began to float a bit higher, but then abruptly fell as though gravity had suddenly kicked in once again. It broke apart and sent shards of glass all over the table and floor, along with sake spilling out everywhere.

"No!" he exclaimed in despair, "Not again!"

His despair was swiftly replaced by rage. "Why, why, **WHY **am I still not powerful enough after all these years!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, leaning over and furiously pounding his fist on the table.

"Master Fukinkou!" a voice called out. "Is something wrong?"

Fukinkou turned towards the sound of the voice. Two human-like spirits were standing on the other side of the room. One had long white hair, green eyes and a white kimono, the other had long black hair, amber eyes and a black kimono. Since they had no true gender, their appearance (especially their facial features) could best be described as a mixture of male and female.

"Yes, something is wrong!" he shouted, angrily pointing to the mess that the broken sake bottle had made.

"Your powers have proved to be weak once again?" asked Shiroimi, the spirit in the white kimono.

"Yes!" Fukinkou exclaimed. "I grow tired of it! Even with you and the Hellhounds on my side, I am still a weak sorcerer!"

"Why not go find some more spirits to assist you, Master Fukinkou?" said Kuroimi, the spirit in the black kimono. "We are not particularly powerful ourselves as far as spirits go, and even though the Hellhounds are a force to be reckoned with, there are far more powerful spirits out there."

"I've tried that! Many times!" Fukinkou roared. "The powerful spirits want nothing to do with me because I'm weak! You two only agreed to join me because you were desperate, and the Hellhounds are little more than mindless killing machines who could care less!"

He turned away from his helpers, still fuming. He glanced over at the broken bottle again, pure evidence of his failed telekinesis attempt and his weakness as a sorcerer in general. He thought back to his visit to Yuko Ichihara's wish-granting shop five years earlier. Thanks to her, he was both immortal and on a par with (some) spirits and supernatural creatures, but lately he felt it was not enough for him. His blood boiled with rampant desire for more. More power. More spirits on his side. More intimidating to any foes. More unstoppable. **More.**

The problem was _getting_ more.

Why did it always have to be so challenging?

But on this particular night, maybe it wouldn't have to be. As he stood there nearly overwhelmed by his powerful desires, an idea struck him like a fantastic jolt of electricity.

He turned to his two helpers. "Why don't you two go out and seek out some more powerful spirits for me?" he said. "Maybe they'll be a little more accepting of you than they would me."

"Perhaps," said Shiroimi, "Though keep in mind we are only marginally more powerful than you, Master Fukinkou."

"And what if they still refuse because they know you're weak?" added Kuroimi.

Fukinkou's idea had calmed his frustration just moments before, and now the words of his helpers had stirred up his fury again.

"Don't bother me with your talk of the little details!" he shouted, "Just get out there and find more spirits!" He wrathfully pointed towards the door to emphasize his point.

"Very well then," said Shiroimi, sounding somewhat unwilling.

"We will try our best," said Kuroimi with a nod. And with that they both turned and began to exit.

Fukinkou walked over to the lavish armchair nearby and sat down, a satisfied and optimistic grin on his face.


	3. Shinyou and Shinrai

_**CHAPTER TWO:**_

"Fifteen minutes…" muttered Kimihiro Watanuki as he glanced up at the clock atop one of the large buildings, "Almost there…I can probably make it…"

He continued to sprint down the streets in a great rush, trying to make it to his school on time. You see, he had stayed at work in Yuko's shop later than usual the night before, and when he finally left and went home, he was so worn out from all the work that he overslept.

"If it wasn't for Yuko, I wouldn't be having this problem right now," he said to himself irately, starting to get out of breath from running so fast.

At last the school started to come into view, and Watanuki sighed in relief. In a matter of minutes he was at the door, and he hurriedly made his way inside. Stopping in the hallway to catch his breath, he looked at the clock on the wall and saw that class would begin in five minutes. Perfect timing.

"Good morning, Watanuki!" said a cheerful voice from somewhere behind him.

Right away he found himself feeling quite energized and elated upon hearing that voice. He'd know it anywhere. He quickly turned to see a girl with long brown pigtails standing near him. It was Himawari Kunogi, a classmate of his whom he adored.

"Good morning, Himawari!" said Watanuki happily.

Himawari looked at the clock. "I almost thought you were going to be late," she said, "You've made it just in time."

"I know," said Watanuki, looking a trifle embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head, "I had to stay late at work last night and ended up sleeping in too late."

Despite his embarrassment in telling Himawari the reason for his near-lateness, he was still ecstatic to be starting this school day off by having a pleasant chat with her.

Unfortunately, that bliss was about to be rudely interrupted.

"Hey," said another voice from somewhere nearby.

Watanuki cringed. He would know _that_ voice anywhere too.

"My name's not 'hey!' " he said angrily, turning to face the owner of the voice: Shizuka Doumeki.

To say that Watanuki found this fellow insufferable would be like saying World War II was a "slight disagreement."

"What do you want, Doumeki?" said Watanuki, his eyes narrowed and his teeth gnashed.

"I want to make sure you didn't sleep in too late to make my lunch," said Doumeki, his calm, rather aloof demeanor contrasting quite nicely with Watanuki's aggression.

"Yes, yes! I made your stupid lunch! Keep your pants on!" Watanuki replied angrily and snappily.

"And you remembered that I wanted octopus today, right?" said Doumeki, still unruffled.

"Yes, yes, yes!" said Watanuki, furiously fumbling around in his satchel. He took the bento box containing said lunch out and handed it to Doumeki with much exasperation. "If you're so worried about it, here! Take it!"

Doumeki placidly took the box from the shorter boy's hands. Himawari giggled at the two of them bickering. She was rather oblivious to the loathing Watanuki felt towards Doumeki; to her, Watanuki and Doumeki's ever-so-frequent arguing was something akin to siblings teasing each other.

Presently there was yet another voice from near the three of them.

"Umm…excuse us…"

Himawari turned in the direction of the voice, with Doumeki and Watanuki almost immediately doing likewise. Standing in close proximity to them was a pair of girls none of them had seen at school before. With their identical school uniforms and short black hair, it was safe to assume that they were twins, although not quite as one of them had green eyes and the other had amber eyes.

"Would you mind showing us where the classroom is?" said the girl with green eyes.

"We're new here," added the one with amber eyes.

"Oh…it's that way," said Himawari, pointing towards down the hallway.

There was no "thank you," no reply from them whatsoever. Himawari looked and saw that they seemed to be focusing absorbedly on Watanuki.

Watanuki stared back at them with a rather bewildered look on his face, finding their gaze to be most unsettling. Then without really thinking, he asked awkwardly, "Who are you?"

"I'm Shinyou Dekinai," said the green-eyed girl, "and this is my sister Shinrai Dekinai."

"Oh…umm…nice to meet you," Watanuki replied, still feeling oddly affected by the two girls. Finally he could tolerate it no more and asked somewhat cantankerously, "Why are you two staring at me like that?"

"Oh! Are we staring?" exclaimed Shinyou, quite startled, "Oh, we're so sorry…we didn't mean to be rude."

"We only wanted to be friendly," Shinrai added with an embarrassed smile. "Please forgive us."

The bell rang, and the five of them headed to class.

Doumeki looked back at Shinyou and Shinrai, who were walking behind him. He examined them with such weightiness that they both drew back somewhat. He did not share Watanuki's ability to see spirits, but he could sense when something…or someone…was not normal. And he had a ominous feeling that maybe, just maybe, this was such an occasion.

He sighed, looked away, and continued walking down the hall.

* * *

As class progressed, Watanuki also began to feel that perhaps there was something abnormal about Shinyou and Shinrai. At the start of class the two of them had insisted persuasively on sitting at the desks close to him, and though he was initially a bit hesitant he agreed. After all, even if he did feel that they were unusual he didn't want to seem unsociable.

As a result he now had Shinyou sitting at the desk immediately to the left of him and Shinrai sitting at the one to the right of him, as though he were the lunch meat in some kind of desk sandwich. He tried his best to disregard that mystifying vibe he was getting from the girls, but that was perhaps easier said than done.

_Why do they want to be close to me so much? _he wondered. _Right from the moment they saw me, staring at me in the hall in that weird way…and they don't know a thing about me! I doubt they even know my name…_

He uneasily glanced at Shinyou out of the corner of his eye for a moment, then Shinrai.

_Maybe they think I'm…cute?_ A giddy smile crossed his face at the thought. _Yeah…that's it…they like me! Boy, I guess I've gotten quick when it comes to impressing the ladies…_

Feeling delighted and full of pride, he looked across the room to where Doumeki was sitting. More often than not, it was Doumeki who seemed to get all the attention from the girls.

Watanuki grinned shrewdly and snickered to himself a bit. _In your face, Doumeki! From what I could see, **these** girls didn't give a crap about you! Their attention went right to ME!_

He then happened to glance in the direction of Himawari.

_Aaah! What the heck am I thinking?! No matter how much these girls have been hitting on me, there's no way I could ever be disloyal to my sweet Himawari…_

He sighed and turned his attention back to his schoolwork. The eerie feeling he had been getting from Shinyou and Shinrai had diminished somewhat now, and he was able to concentrate without difficulty.


	4. Abnormal Allure

_**CHAPTER THREE:**_

As the day went on, it seemed that Shinyou and Shinrai were starting to behave even more bizarre.

At one point, Watanuki was by himself in the hallway when the two of them appeared without warning.

"Watanuki!" Shinyou called out with enthusiasm.

Startled, Watanuki promptly turned around. "Oh…ehh…it's just you two again." He blushed slightly and laughed nervously.

They said nothing and began to gaze at him in the same mysterious, disturbing way they had done earlier. The strange feeling it gave Watanuki the first time had decreased a bit during class, but now it returned…with a vengeance. It seemed as though this time they were focusing even more strongly than before.

Watanuki, now dreadfully mystified and irritated, was on the verge of demanding them to stop, but before he could say a single word Shinrai suddenly grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him close to her face. She then placed her nose near his shoulder and inhaled deeply as though she were smelling something appetizing, then looked at him with a devious smile.

Watanuki was understandably alarmed. "Wh-wh-what…what was _that_ all about?!" he asked indignantly and fretfully.

"Oh!" Shinrai exclaimed, promptly loosening her grip on Watanuki's collar. "Oh…umm…you…umm…" she seemed quite panicky and unwilling to answer. "You…your…your clothes…smelled nice…yeah…your clothes smelled really nice…"

Confused and slightly suspicious, Watanuki pulled part of his shirt to his nose and sniffed. He could hardly smell anything except for a rather faint aroma of laundry soap.

"Is…is that the whole reason you wanted to talk to me?" said Watanuki, slightly incensed. "So you could smell my clothes?"

"No," said Shinyou.

"We came because we have something to give you," said Shinrai, proceeding to take a small rectangular box out of her satchel. She then handed it to Watanuki.

"Green tea-flavored Kit Kats?" said Watanuki, examining the box. (1)

"Yes," said Shinyou, "Have you ever tried them?"

"No," Watanuki replied.

"You might like them then," said Shinrai.

Watanuki thought it was rather considerate of the girls to share their candy with him, but their behavior still gave him that inauspicious sensation.

"Go on," said Shinyou.

"You can have the whole box," said Shinrai.

"Well," said Watanuki, taking the candy out and still thinking it over a little bit, "I overslept and didn't have time for breakfast, so I _am _pretty hungry…" He took a look at the clock; lunch wouldn't be until another hour.

"Eh, I might as well," said Watanuki, proceeding to somewhat warily take a small bite of the Kit Kat.

"Do you like it?" asked Shinrai?

"It's all right," said Watanuki, taking another nibble.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to take candy from strangers?" said the all-too-familiar voice of Doumeki.

Oh, that voice alone was enough to make Watanuki's spine convulse. "You stay out of this, okay?!" he yelled at Doumeki angrily.

"Yeah, and who said we're strangers?" said Shinyou.

"We're friends, aren't we Watanuki?" Shinrai added, giving him a affable yet somehow sneaky-looking smile.

"Umm…I suppose," said Watanuki, not exactly sure how to answer.

"Idiot," said Doumeki with a heavy, frustrated sigh. He then turned and left the three of them alone.

"Hmph! Good riddance!" said a rather displeased Shinyou.

"Yeah! Wouldn't you agree, Watanuki?" added Shinrai.

Watanuki, exceedingly riled, glared peevishly at Doumeki as he walked away. "I couldn't agree more."

Now that the two girls seemed to be on his side when it came to Doumeki, the disturbing sensation they gave him once again faded.

* * *

That afternoon found the five of them--Watanuki, Doumeki, Himawari, Shinyou and Shinrai--sitting outside to have lunch. Watanuki didn't pay much more attention to Shinyou and Shinrai and neither did Himawari, but Doumeki seemed to be keeping an intense, extremely attentive eye on them, somewhat like a carnivorous creature observing its prey, while at the same time unperturbedly eating the octopus bento Watanuki had made him.

"Look at him," Shinrai irritably whispered to her sister, gesturing at Doumeki with her eyes. "Do you think he's on to us?"

"Probably not," said Shinyou, "but I hate how he keeps looking at us like that. It makes me feel horrible…" She winced slightly.

"Horrible?" asked Shinrai.

"Don't you just feel like you want to run as far away from him as you can?" Shinyou replied, a tense, irate sound in her voice.

"Oh yes…he feels so…so repulsive." Shinrai said, cringing much like her sister had done. She then slowly and cleverly glanced at Watanuki, who was happily talking with Himawari. "Now him…he's absolutely _fantastic._"

"I know," said Shinyou with a wicked smile, "That smell…I can hardly resist."

"I wonder if he's even aware," said Shinrai.

"Maybe he doesn't have to be," said Shinyou, "Perhaps…" she was quiet for a moment, pondering something over quite intently.

"Perhaps what?" asked Shinrai.

"Perhaps he's one of us."

Shinrai was rather taken aback by this suggestion. "You mean…?"

"Or maybe he has some sort of special connection." Shinyou was still giving it much contemplation.

"Like…like Master?" asked Shinrai inquisitively.

"Perhaps…but this feels like something much stronger." She looked at Watanuki, then Himawari and Doumeki and a few other students who were sitting elsewhere. "And I don't feel anything remotely like that coming from any other human here."

Shinrai was quite astonished and thrilled. "We should tell Master then! This boy could very well be the answer to his problems!"

Shinyou nodded in agreement. "Or maybe perhaps Master would know what this strange allure of his is." The two of them watched Watanuki, who was still just pleasantly eating and chatting with Himawari and paying hardly any attention to them at all.

A fiendish smile came upon their faces. "He may not be _exactly_ what Master told us to go and find," said Shinyou, "but Master definitely needs to know about him."

"Yes," said Shinrai with a nod, "he could even become a new assistant for him…then he'd no longer complain about how 'useless' we are."

The two were undeniably enjoying their scheming little discussion, so much so that they forgot they were being intensely watched.

"What do you two keep gawking at?" said Doumeki in a stern, infuriated voice.

"What we look at is none of your business!" Shinyou said angrily.

"Yeah! Leave us alone!" said Shinrai.

Doumeki groaned sulkily and turned his attention back to the bento, but he still continued to regard the two of them rather gravely.

* * *

_Grrr…not again…_

School had ended, and Watanuki was heading back home (well, to Yuko's shop actually) with Doumeki walking alongside him, a typical situation that he detested with every fiber of his being.

Often, it seemed to Watanuki that in just about every pleasant situation he found himself in, Doumeki would barge in and ruin it. This included not only countless encounters with Himawari, but that day's events with Shinyou and Shinrai. Here he was, just trying to be nice to these two new classmates and that unsmiling oaf just had to intrude.

But still, Watanuki couldn't help but once again ponder the mysterious, irksome feeling he repeatedly got from the two girls, even though said feeling had ebbed and flowed a great deal. A peculiar thought entered the back of his mind that perhaps Doumeki felt something similar, if not the same, and that Doumeki might have been simply looking out for him. It wouldn't be the first time, as Doumeki had, in fact, saved Watanuki's life on numerous occasions. But despite this fact, Watanuki still continued to despise Doumeki, for the most part because his intense abhorrence, in a sense, did not originate from his own conscious thought. (2)

However, due to an incident few months prior, Watanuki had been (very) reluctantly trying to overcome his repugnance towards the hard-faced archer, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, there was indeed somewhere deep, _deep_ down in his heart of hearts that felt gratitude for Doumeki's frequent rescuing of him, especially since in the aforementioned recent incident he was quite close to death. (3)

Presently Watanuki sighed huffily and, trying his best to hold back the loathing that seethed in his veins, asked Doumeki quietly and hesitantly, "What did you think of them?"

"Who?" said Doumeki in his usual dull, unforthcoming voice.

"Those new girls."

Doumeki looked into the bespectacled boy's eyes with an almost livid seriousness.

"They aren't normal," he said simply and impassively. Then he looked away and said no more.

"What…what do you mean, 'not normal'?" said Watanuki, demanding a more specific answer.

Doumeki remained silent.

"Answer me, you moron!" Watanuki barked at the archer.

It was then that he saw that they had arrived at the entrance to the temple where Doumeki lived.

"I want squid for lunch tomorrow," Doumeki said to Watanuki before entering his home.

Watanuki, hot-tempered lad that he was, could only react by furiously stamping his foot and sniveling loudly. Then he turned and very crossly continued his walk to Yuko's shop.

* * *

(1) They really do have green tea-flavored Kit Kats in Japan; I actually tried some when I visited there. I also saw soy sauce-flavored ones. :P

(2) In the _Another Holic_ novel, it mentions that one reason why Watanuki hates Doumeki is because the spirits that are attracted to him don't want Doumeki around because he drives them away.

(3) This is a reference to episodes 22 and 23.


	5. Intuition and Plotting

_**CHAPTER FOUR:**_

It seemed to Watanuki that after all that had happened that day, the work he was presently having to do simply added insult to injury.

Yuko was elsewhere, and Watanuki was thoroughly but grumpily scrubbing the couch she regularly sat in with a washcloth. He wrinkled his nose at the couch's musty scent of tobacco and sake and foods too numerous to mention.

"She was obviously capable of taking care of herself before I showed up," he mumbled complainingly, "so why does it have to be different nowadays?"

"Oh, try to lighten up, Watanuki," said a voice from somewhere close by. It was Yuko. Watanuki hadn't heard her coming and was quite startled.

"If you keep up with that crabby attitude I may just have to make you work harder," Yuko said with a cunning smirk.

"Uhh…crabby? Me?" Watanuki said with a nervous laugh and a clearly strained smile. "Y-Y-You must have heard me wrong or something…I wasn't being crabby at all!"

Yuko frowned in dissatisfaction. "Do you really th--"

"Look at me! I'm perfectly happy!" Watanuki exclaimed, cutting her off. His forced smile grew bigger and he began to blithely frolic around the room singing.

It didn't do any good; Yuko merely grew more unconvinced. "Do you really think you can fool me, Watanuki?" she said with annoyance.

At that moment Watanuki abruptly put an end to his phony cheerfulness. He groaned dejectedly and went back to cleaning.

Yuko was silent for a moment, watching him. Then she asked, "Has anything bothersome happened today?"

Watanuki halted his scrubbing. "What do you mean?"

"You seem to be quite distressed about something." Yuko said.

Watanuki thought this over, slightly confused. Yes, he was frustrated about his work, as he so often was, but _distressed?_ What did she mean by that?

"You've met some people today whom you're unsure about, haven't you?"

Watanuki's eyes widened. Yuko always _just knew _these things.

"Well," Watanuki replied, somewhat hesitantly, "there were a couple of new students at school today who were acting kind of weird…"

"Is that so?" said Yuko. "In what way?"

"They…they kept wanting to be close to me," Watanuki said, "and sometimes they'd stare at me in this creepy way, and one of them grabbed me by the collar and sniffed me…she said it was because my clothes smelled good, but I couldn't smell a thing."

"Why didn't you just try to avoid them if they made you feel so uncomfortable?" said Yuko.

"Well, I wanted to make them feel welcome…they **were **new after all," said Watanuki, "and they were also kind of nice to me…one of them shared her Kit Kats with me."

Yuko mulled this over. "What did your other classmates think of them?"

Unfortunately, the first person that came to Watanuki's mind was Doumeki. He frowned in displeasure.

"Doumeki said some crap about how they 'weren't normal,' " Watanuki grumbled, "but he wouldn't say _why_ they weren't normal…the stupid jerk…"

"Did you think he was wrong?" asked Yuko.

Watanuki was rather stunned and bemused at this query. "No…I…" he began tentatively, "I…I…actually thought he was kind of…kind of right."

"You should," said Yuko starkly, sounding somewhat cautionary.

"And why's that?" asked Watanuki.

Yuko severely gazed into Watanuki's eyes. "Right now, it's enough that you agree with how Doumeki felt," said Yuko, "You will understand later…" she paused, her countenance growing more somber, "…hopefully before it's too late."

Something in how she said this left a deep, foreboding impression on Watanuki. He was now feeling more suspicious of the two girls than ever.

"But…but why?" Watanuki asked quietly and apprehensively.

"I said you will understand later," Yuko replied sternly. She then took a look at the couch.

"I suppose the couch is clean enough now," she said, "you can stop washing it."

"Really?" said Watanuki. Yuko nodded.

Watanuki felt quite relieved as his hands were beginning to grow a bit red and sore from all the scrubbing.

Unfortunately his relief was short-lived. "Now why don't you go and get started on that stir-fry?" said Yuko with a smile.

"Stir-fry!" exclaimed Maru, one of Yuko's two assistants, who happened to be standing nearby.

"Stir-fry!" repeated Moro, the other.

Typical Yuko, one minute she gave him some weighty-sounding advice and the next minute she was bossing him around like a spoiled child.

Watanuki stomped off to the kitchen in a huff, grumbling and gnashing his teeth.

* * *

In the middle of a shadowy, looming forest there stood a large, long-standing, opulent house that belonged to Fukinkou. With its shabby, sinister appearance, secluded location, and the mass of ghastly dead trees with branches like long, terrible fingers that surrounded it, it was the perfect sort of place for a fiendish sorcerer like Fukinkou to carry out his rotten deeds.

That is, if his magic wasn't so miserably weak.

He sat in his luxurious chair pessimistically pondering his lack of ability, feeling a dismal combination of melancholy, rage and yearning that made him ache within.

"Master Fukinkou!" a voice shouted.

"Master Fukinkou!" repeated another.

"Yes, what is it?" Fukinkou grumbled moodily, turning around to see Shinyou and Shinrai standing close by.

The two girls closed their eyes and a dark, spectral fog surrounded them. In a few seconds the fog cleared, revealing their true forms: Shiroimi and Kuroimi.

"Well then…did you find any spirits?" said Fukinkou.

"Unfortunately, no," said Shiroimi.

"We did not," added Kuroimi.

"What?!" Fukinkou growled, "You incompetent idiots! You were supposed to be searching them out!"

"Master Fukinkou, please settle down," said Shiroimi.

"We did manage to find _something _of interest," said Kuroimi.

Fukinkou sighed in vexation. "Fine, what was it?"

"A most remarkable boy," said Shiroimi with a grin.

"Very remarkable indeed," said Kuroimi, also grinning.

"What do I care?" Fukinkou yelled, "What kind of use would he be to me?"

"He seemed to have some kind of connection with spirits," said Shiroimi.

"Yes," said Kuroimi, "his blood smelled marvelous to us…we were so inexplicably drawn to him."

"And…your point is?" said Fukinkou, exasperated.

"He apparently can attract spirits like us with no effort on his part," said Shiroimi.

"His attraction felt extraordinarily strong," said Kuroimi, "I wouldn't be surprised if more powerful spirits than us were drawn to him as well."

"I agree," said Shiroimi.

"Yes, yes, very nice," said Fukinkou scornfully, still very displeased at his assistants. But wait, didn't they just say that this fellow could be a magnet for spirits _without any effort on his part?_

**"_What?!?" _**Fukinkou bellowed, promptly rising from his chair. "What else do you know of this boy? How is he able to do such a extraordinary thing?"

"The only other thing we were able to find out about him was his name," said Shiroimi, shrugging.

"It's Kimihiro Watanuki," said Kuroimi.

"Well, however he does it, he is terribly fortunate," Fukinkou said, "whilst_** I **_am stuck here with so very little!" He began to groan stridently and clutch his hair.

"Master Fukinkou, _please,_" Shiroimi pleaded, trying to calm Fukinkou down.

"You don't want to get another one of your dreadful headaches, do you?" said Kuroimi.

**"_Shut up!" _**Fukinkou snapped deafeningly. He paced the floor in a great fury, snarling. Then he paused, thinking of a solution. He smiled wickedly and turned to his assistants, who were still quite intimidated by his explosion of ferocity.

"I believe I have another job for you," he said.

"Yes?" said Shiroimi.

"What is it?" said Kuroimi.

"Rally the Hellhounds and have them track this Watanuki boy down," said Fukinkou, "then when they do, they should tear him to pieces!"

"Master Fukinkou…" said Shiroimi, taken aback.

"Why would you want them to do that?" said Kuroimi.

Fukinkou sneered irately. "For that boy to go on living with such an incredible power while I struggle so horribly with my own powers, a hideous demise is a just reward! And besides…" a callous grin took form, "if he were dead I could possibly use my magic to transfer his ability to myself."

"Master Fukinkou," said Shiroimi sternly, "you do realize that you've never been able to do that, correct?"

"Yes," said Kuroimi, "therefore you'd end up killing an innocent person for no reason."

"What have I said about you tormenting me with the details?!" Fukinkou yelled. "I'll make it work, trust me! Now just get the blasted job done!"

Shiroimi sighed in resignation. "Very well then, Master."

"Anything to satisfy you," said Kuroimi.

The two of them closed their eyes and the ghostly fog enveloped them once more, transforming them back into their disguises. Then they departed.

* * *

That night, Doumeki had a ghastly nightmare. He was standing in a desolate grassland shrouded in an ominous haze, with nothing in front of him but a shadowy four-legged form that appeared to be leaning over something. He cautiously approached it for a closer look. It seemed to be either a large dog or wolf, and when he saw the thing this terrible creature was leaning over he recoiled in shock. It was a bloodied human carcass, of which hardly anything remained save for the mangled ribcage, innards that had been ripped to shreds…and an all-too-familiar pair of glasses. It sent a horrendous chill through the very marrow of his bones. The creature then turned and snarled at him with terrifying red eyes.

At that moment Doumeki's eyes shot wide open, his heart pounding. He got out of bed and stepped outside, trying to shake off his macabre vision. The sun was shining radiantly and the birds were merrily chirping. It was obviously early in the morning.

He wondered if his nightmare may have had something to do with the two new girls, a chilling sign that he should protect Watanuki from them perhaps. But what on Earth would such a frightening four-legged monster, whether it was a dog or a wolf or something else, have to do with them?

Doumeki was exceptionally devoted to Watanuki, even when all he usually got in return from him (besides free bento) was hostility. Yes, although Doumeki may have seemed cold and distant and unlikable, he undeniably had a heart of gold.

As he walked back inside to put on his school uniform and gather his textbooks and satchel, he made up his mind about Shinyou and Shinrai. He knew they weren't normal when he first laid eyes on them, and now he starkly believed that they were not only abnormal, but dangerous. He faithfully decided that he would keep Watanuki away from Shinyou and Shinrai that day at all costs.

After all, if past events proved anything, he just might be the only thing standing between the feisty seer and a grisly death.


	6. The Hellhounds Attack

_**CHAPTER FIVE:**_

Doumeki discovered that there was really no need for him to keep Watanuki away from Shinyou and Shinrai; in utter contrast to the day before, the two perplexing girls seemed to have ceased their baffling behavior. They did not come to speak with Watanuki whatsoever, they simply went on acting like every other student in the school. Nonetheless, Doumeki still steadfastly felt that the two were abnormal and dangerous, and he couldn't help but wonder if his watchfulness towards Watanuki that day was the thing that was forcing them to behave otherwise.

And how did Watanuki feel about this? Hopping mad! It seemed as though the deadpan archer did not dare let the irascible seer out of his sight, like some doting parent. It made Watanuki feel as though he had grown a second shadow…an infuriating, indifferent boor of a shadow. As they went outside for lunch after Doumeki's archery practice, Watanuki had become immensely fed up with Doumeki and was vehemently trying to suppress the urge to give him a good old cuff to the chops.

But Watanuki, too, noticed that the more Doumeki watched over him, the less Shinyou and Shinrai came near him. Being the descendant of a priest, Doumeki's presence was repulsive to the bothersome spirits that were always drawn to Watanuki. With this in mind, Watanuki wondered again if maybe Doumeki was just looking out for him…and that maybe the girls could be spirits. They _did _give him a most unsettling impression after all. But for some reason the idea seemed a bit doubtful. To be sure, the girls were bizarre, but they just didn't quite seem like spirits to Watanuki.

So, if they weren't spirits, Doumeki _wouldn't _merely be protecting him…

"Do you just get some kind of sick, twisted enjoyment out of following me around and annoying me?!" Watanuki angrily shrieked at Doumeki.

"Be quiet," said Doumeki, nonchalant as always, "people are trying to study."

How did that oaf always remain so composed? Now Watanuki _really_ wanted to punch him.

But then…

"There you two are!" said a dear, _dear_ voice. "I've been waiting!"

Watanuki immediately held himself back. There was no way he could act like an uncouth bully around cute Himawari!

"Hi, Himawari!" Watanuki said cheerfully. "Sorry it took a while…"

"It's all right," said Himawari with a smile, "I understand."

_It wouldn't have taken a while if I didn't have to deal with stupid Doumeki following me around like I'm some ignorant little kid, _thought Watanuki irately.

"Have you two talked to the new girls any more lately?" asked Himawari.

"No," Doumeki replied sternly.

"She was talking to _me, _idiot!" Watanuki exclaimed.

"She said 'you two'," said Doumeki, "she was talking to both of us."

Watanuki just looked away from him with an incensed grunt.

"Anyway, why do you ask?" said Doumeki.

"Well…they just seem so…so quiet today," said Himawari, "it's like they keep wanting to be by themselves."

"Maybe they're just being shy," said Watanuki.

Himawari shook her head. "They didn't seem too shy yesterday…"

"Maybe…something's wrong?" said Watanuki.

"There is," Doumeki replied promptly and assertively.

"Yes, and you never told me _why,_ you jerk!" Watanuki shouted, remembering what Doumeki had said the day before as they walked home.

"Doumeki's right," said Himawari, thinking, "maybe something _is_ wrong."

"Well…I could always go and try to find out for you," Watanuki said to Himawari with an overconfident grin and a slightly nervous laugh. By all means Himawari could easily go ask the girls herself, but the vivacious seer simply couldn't resist a chance to show her what a helpful, dependable gentleman he could be.

"Really?" said Himawari, "That would be nice of you, Watanuki. They _were _pretty friendly to you, after all."

_Haaaaaah! She wants my help!_ Watanuki thought ecstatically, blushing. _Well, help you shall have, my darling Himawari!_

"Okay then, " said Watanuki with a smile, "I'll go find them and talk to them."

He started to walk off, but he hadn't gone very far before he felt something tugging at his shirt and pulling him back.

"No," said that monotonous, grating voice he knew all too well.

"You let go of me right now before I knock your teeth out!" Watanuki snapped, raising his fist.

"Don't go near those girls," Doumeki said.

"You're not the boss of me, moron!" Watanuki said, furiously trying to wriggle free of Doumeki's grasp. But the reticent archer tightly held on.

"Why don't you want me to talk to them?" Watanuki demanded, "I'm only trying to help Himawari!"

"Is it worth it to you to get into some devastating trouble?" Doumeki said with a grim look on his face.

An awful chill went down Watanuki's spine. Doumeki's words had the same threatening impact on him that Yuko's did: _"Right now, it's enough that you agree with Doumeki. You will understand later…hopefully before it's too late."_

"T-T-Trouble?" Watanuki asked hesitantly.

"You have to stay away from them," said Doumeki. "It's for your own safety."

"Why?" Watanuki asked.

Doumeki released his grip on Watanuki's shirt. He was silent for a long while, pondering what to say. He didn't want to tell Watanuki the lurid details of his dream right then and there. "You're probably better off not knowing," he said impassively, looking away.

Watanuki clenched his fists and groaned wrathfully. Why wouldn't that surly lout give him an answer?

But then Yuko's words came to mind once again: _"I said you will understand later…"_ Watanuki sighed in frustration and walked back over to Himawari.

"Y-You know what?" Watanuki said to her shyly and dejectedly, "Maybe I should just leave those girls alone…I-I-I don't want to seem rude."

* * *

As Watanuki made his way to Yuko's shop later that afternoon, he realized that he had not given much thought to what he would cook for her that night. He crossly blamed it on Doumeki's frustrating vigilance and puzzling warning about the girls, even though once again there was somewhere deep within him that felt Doumeki was right. In any event, the whole thing had significantly preoccupied his thoughts.

And now, he was so busy thinking about what to do regarding dinner that he didn't pay attention to the streets he was walking down, and it was only when he reached a crosswalk and was waiting for the light to change that he realized he was going the wrong way. He looked upwards and saw that the sun was beginning to set. In a panic he decided he needed to find a nearby shortcut, and quickly; the last thing he wanted was Yuko raking him over the coals for being late.

He frantically glanced around and noticed a park nearby. Maybe crossing through it would be a good shortcut. Of course he didn't know for sure, but he was so fretful and desperate that he didn't care.

As he hurriedly moved through the park he heard a loud rustling in the bushes. Startled and slightly curious, he turned around.

Nothing.

He looked away and kept on walking.

The rustling sound came again, louder. He turned to look once more. But still, nothing.

He began to feel rather apprehensive and perplexed. "Is…is someone there?" he called out hesitantly. But there was no response of any kind.

"Hello?"

Nothing but dead silence like an empty house in the early morning.

The sky grew darker. Watanuki knew he had to hurry. He timidly disregarded the sound as simply the wind, or perhaps a figment of his imagination, and continued walking.

The sound came again, this time accompanied with what sounded like a growl. Watanuki froze in his tracks.

"All right, this has gone far enough!" Watanuki shouted, "Who are you?"

No answer except for the growling that seemed to grow louder.

Watanuki's heart began to pound crazily, and he slowly and nervously began to turn away. But he had scarcely done so when suddenly five or six large, terrifying, malicious black dogs burst out of nowhere, charging toward the horror-struck seer with their hideous fangs bared and their eyes glowing a bright, gruesome red.

Watanuki shrieked at the top of his voice and hysterically dashed away as fast as his skinny legs could carry him. But the vile canines quickly caught up, viciously biting at him and snarling ruthlessly.

Spotting a nearby tree, Watanuki swiftly but carefully climbed up, fearfully clinging to the strongest-looking limb. The beasts immediately clustered around the tree, leaping up and snapping their frightening, sharp fang-filled jaws. A bite from those terrible teeth would surely mean death.

"Go away!" Watanuki yelled, thumping the side of his foot against the tree trunk, "Go on! Get! Bad dogs! Go! **Go!**" The dogs remained, and would have likely torn Watanuki's foot off had he not quickly yanked it away. In that moment, Watanuki realized in immense terror that he was trapped.

But just when it seemed that it was all over for the poor seer, a mystical arrow shot through the air and pierced the biggest dog through the heart. With a pained yelp it suddenly vanished in a cloud of misty, dark green smoke, and the other dogs retreated as though something revolting was in the air.

Watanuki stared after the escaping canines, stunned. He then looked to see a certain obdurate archer standing some feet away, clutching his bow and looking furiously severe.

"D-D-D…Doumeki?" Watanuki said, his heart still hammering madly.

"Get out of here," said Doumeki, sternly but composedly, "There's probably more where those came from."

Watanuki timidly climbed down. "What…what were those things?" he asked.

"Hellhounds," Doumeki replied, "You should be careful. If they appear three times you'll die." Watanuki's eyes widened and he shuddered.

"What were you doing out here anyway?" Doumeki asked harshly.

"None of your business, nosy-rosy!" Watanuki yelled. He then noticed that the sun had almost completely set.

"Aaaahh! I'm so late!" Watanuki exclaimed in a panic, "Yuko's going to chew me out so bad if I don't get out of here!" He turned and sprinted away from Doumeki.

"If you're lost, you need to go that way," said Doumeki, pointing in the opposite direction of where Watanuki was heading. Watanuki stopped.

"I knew that, you lunkhead!" Watanuki barked, turning in the correct direction and stomping away.

* * *

"Master Fukinkou! **Please!**" Shiroimi begged.

"We tried our hardest!" said Kuroimi, "We did what you told us to!"

"Then why isn't the boy dead?" Fukinkou yelled wrathfully, hurling his glass of sake at the wall and shattering it into hundreds of pieces. "Why didn't the Hellhounds rip him apart?!"

"We…we should have perhaps warned you of something," said Shiroimi hesitantly.

"We forgot, forgive us," said Kuroimi.

"What?" Fukinkou asked angrily.

"There is another boy," said Shiroimi. "The polar opposite of the one you want to kill."

"A boy who repels spirits," said Kuroimi, cringing. "We can't stand to even look at him."

"And what does he have to do with this?" said Fukinkou.

"He appeared when the Hellhounds chased the spirit-attracting boy up a tree," said Shiroimi, "He was carrying a bow and arrow."

"He shot an arrow at one of the Hellhounds, " said Kuroimi, "but…this was no ordinary arrow…this looked like some sort of spiritual arrow."

"And when it struck the Hellhound, it vanished and the others ran away," said Shiroimi.

"In short, he rescued the boy," said Kuroimi.

"**What?!**" Fukinkou roared, "You fools! Why didn't you tell me about this other boy?"

"We…didn't feel he was of importance until now," said Shiroimi.

"Yes, yes, please forgive us," said Kuroimi.

Fukinkou turned away, heatedly scowling.

"Perhaps…" Shiroimi began quietly and nervously, trying to calm him. "Perhaps…we…"

"Perhaps we should have made the Hellhounds kill the other boy as well?" said Kuroimi.

Upon hearing his helper's words, a cold-blooded, scheming grin came upon Fukinkou's face. "Yes," he said calmly and shrewdly, "but...this is something that perhaps I should do myself."


	7. Invitation and A Narrow Escape

_**CHAPTER SIX:**_

The following day was just about the same as the previous in terms of Shinyou and Shinrai's behavior; they continued avoiding the austere archer and the short-tempered seer like the plague.

Or at least that how it seemed at first.

In the middle of class, as Watanuki was getting a textbook out of his satchel, he noticed a folded-up piece of paper. He didn't remember putting anything like that in there…what could it be?

Curious, he unfolded it and began to read.

_Dear Watanuki,_

_We're sorry we haven't been talking to you much. We're still trying to get familiar with the school and haven't had much time for fun._

_But we have told a good friend of ours much about you, and how remarkable we think you are. Our friend, Fukinkou Akuyushi, is quite impressed with everything we've told him about you and would love to meet you._

_Why don't you come to his house sometime? We drew a map on the back for you. And be sure to bring any special friends of yours; we're sure Fukinkou would like to meet them as well._

_Take care!_

_Shinyou Dekinai and Shinrai Dekinai_

They found him _remarkable?_ At least that explained why they had such a strange fascination with him before. But their explanation as to why their fascination abruptly stopped seemed…a bit weak. Even though he didn't think the girls were spirits, he had a strong feeling that they were avoiding him because of Doumeki.

Watanuki put the note back in his satchel, feeling that the invitation was somehow suspicious. But still, he had his doubts. What if they were really quite harmless, and this Fukinkou fellow could be a pleasant new acquaintance?

Those doubts didn't last long, however. He still, in an odd way, agreed with Doumeki's skeptical feelings about them. He didn't know why, but he did. And didn't Yuko say that to agree with him on this matter was something exceedingly crucial?

Yuko. Yes…maybe he could show her the invitation and get her opinion. Would she find it suspicious as well?

* * *

"Fukinkou Akuyushi?" Yuko said as she read the note.

"Do…do you know him or something?" asked Watanuki.

"He came to the shop a few years ago," said Yuko, "he was an aspiring sorcerer…and likely still is."

"What was his wish?" Watanuki asked, intrigued.

"He wanted to be immortal," said Yuko as she put the note down, picked up her pipe and lit it.

"That's…a pretty big wish," said Watanuki as though stunned, "his payment was probably something outrageous…"

"His payment was his humanity," said Yuko, taking a blow of her pipe, "because for him to be human and immortal would have been an imbalance in the natural order of things. The things of this world are not supposed to last forever, and our time in it is no exception. Therefore…" she took another puff, "…he was made equal to things not of this world."

"So…can he see spirits like I can?" asked Watanuki. This was becoming rather fascinating.

"More than that actually," said Yuko, "spirits see him as one of their kind."

"And what about his magic?" asked Watanuki. "You said he's a sorcerer."

"Yes…a weak one," said Yuko, still smoking her pipe, "his weakness is the reason he wished for immortality. He underestimated the powers he was dabbling in, and it nearly destroyed him on several occasions."

"What about the girls?" said Watanuki. "Sounds like they're friends of his."

"You should be careful around them," said Yuko.

"That's what you said before!" Watanuki exclaimed in typical Watanuki-temper-tantrum fashion. "And Doumeki too! Seriously, what's the big deal about them?!"

"Didn't you say that you agreed with Doumeki when he said they weren't normal?" asked Yuko.

"Yes," said Watanuki, "I still do…sort of…"

Yuko was silent, smoking and contemplating the situation.

"Well, Watanuki," she began, "if you feel you must satisfy your curiosity about the girls and why they're not normal, you may go visit Fukinkou tonight."

"Really?" said Watanuki.

"I suppose I could just have you work longer tomorrow night to make up for it," said Yuko with a crafty smile.

Watanuki groaned furiously, clenching his fists. Why did she always _do that?_

"And I'd suggest you heed their advice and bring along a special friend," Yuko added, "I think I know just the one…"

Watanuki's face fell. "Ohh, you don't mean…!"

* * *

"I would rather take a bath in a tub full of sharks than wander around the woods with you!" Watanuki snarled at Doumeki as they walked through the dense forest where Fukinkou's mansion stood.

"Hush," said Doumeki, "It's dark and we need to concentrate on following the map."

"Grrr…why couldn't I have brought Himawari along instead?!" Watanuki moaned irately and woefully. Himawari never got to come along on such excursions; often it felt to Watanuki that Yuko was practically cramming the insufferable archer down his throat.

But there was a good reason, and he knew it: Doumeki's presence drove away the spirits, and if Watanuki were to get himself into any danger, Doumeki would surely save him. Watanuki petulantly pondered this as he walked alongside the archer, and somewhere deep down within he reluctantly admitted that with Doumeki nearby, he felt much more safe and secure strolling through the murky forest than he would have had he gone alone…or with Himawari for that matter…_maybe._

"This looks like the place," said Doumeki. Watanuki looked and saw that they had reached a large, sumptuous house cloaked in a grove of ominous dead trees.

They walked up to the door and knocked, and Fukinkou swiftly answered.

"Why, Watanuki!" said Fukinkou cordially, bowing. "It is an honor! And who is this other fine fellow?"

"That…would be Doumeki," said Watanuki irritably, pointing at the archer.

"Well, hello to you as well, Doumeki," said Fukinkou, "I assume you are a friend of Watanuki's?"

"Maybe," Doumeki replied impassively.

"Don't you 'maybe' me!" Watanuki snapped. "Just because you're always coming along and helping me out doesn't make you my fri--"

"Oh, enough with the quarrelling, you two," said Fukinkou, "come in; we can talk further inside."

The three entered the mansion, Doumeki scrutinizing the sorcerer in much the same way he had Shinyou and Shinrai upon his first encounter with them. There, too, was something questionable about Fukinkou, though Doumeki felt it likely had more to do with Fukinkou's overly gracious demeanor than anything paranormal. The question was, did Watanuki share his feelings? Regardless, if Fukinkou did indeed have something vile up his sleeve, it was up to him to not let the tetchy seer be fooled.

"Master Fukinkou!" the voice of Shinyou called out.

"Watanuki and his friend are here, aren't they?" said the voice of Shinrai.

"They certainly are," said Fukinkou happily. He turned to Watanuki and Doumeki. "Shinyou and her sister Shinrai are assistants of mine. They've told me a lot of great things about you, Watanuki."

"What kind of great things?" asked Watanuki.

Fukinkou looked deep into the seer's eyes, still maintaining his agreeable expression. "That you could be of tremendous use to me."

Watanuki, however, did not perceive any sort of kindly feeling in those words, nor Fukinkou's visage when he said them. In fact, the sorcerer's face seemed to have morphed into a heartless, twisted smirk, and a smoggy, nauseating cloud had suddenly enveloped him. Watanuki had seen this sort of cloud before, and he knew from experience that it, like the spirits, was something only he could see…and smell for that matter. He clasped his hand over his nose and mouth, the stink making him sick to his stomach.

"Umm…excuse me, Fukinkou…" said Watanuki apprehensively, backing away, "I…I…kinda need to sit down…I don't feel good." He glanced around and noticed Fukinkou's posh chair nearby, but an actual place to sit down didn't matter to him…he just needed to away from that revolting smell. The chair would probably be good enough, however.

Doumeki, alarmed by Watanuki's sudden reaction, followed him over to the chair.

"What's wrong?" he asked the seer, who was sitting down and taking a deep, grateful breath of fresh air. "Are you seeing something?"

"Definitely," replied Watanuki, "Do you remember the collectors?" (1)

Doumeki nodded.

"It's the same thing," said Watanuki, "his face got really ugly and then there was this disgusting smoke all around him…when I saw that happen to those collectors, Yuko told me I was seeing greed."

Doumeki pondered this. So Watanuki _did _share his feelings…more than that perhaps, as he could actually _see_ something amiss. Doumeki was about to say something else to Watanuki, but was interrupted by a displeased Fukinkou.

"What are you doing in my chair?" the sorcerer demanded.

"I told you," said Watanuki, "I needed to sit down for a minute."

"You could have sat elsewhere, you know," said Fukinkou.

"But this was the only chair I saw in this room," Watanuki explained.

Fukinkou sighed. "Enough," he said, "so…you weren't feeling well?"

Watanuki nervously nodded yes, hoping that would be enough and that Fukinkou would not ask him _why _he felt queasy.

"Well, I have a feeling it was all in your head," said Fukinkou with a smile. "Some more pleasant conversation might fix that, no?"

"What do you want from him?" asked Doumeki before Watanuki could answer.

Fukinkou turned to Doumeki, looking more concerned than he had been when he was talking to Watanuki.

"You know, my assistants have told me a good deal about you as well, Doumeki," he said, his eyes growing harsh. "You help him, protect him, do you not?"

Doumeki was stunned, wondering how exactly the girls knew this. "Yes," he replied, remaining as straight-faced as ever.

It was then that Watanuki, also quite astonished, saw that the dark cloud surrounding Fukinkou had suddenly returned in all its revolting glory. The stench overwhelming him again, he got up from the chair and left Fukinkou and Doumeki to their discussion. Fukinkou, pondering Doumeki's response, happened to glance out of the corner of his eye at his chair and noticed Watanuki's absence. He grinned and quietly laughed to himself fiendishly.

"Are you going to help him now?" Fukinkou asked.

"What are you talking about?" said Doumeki.

Fukinkou gave him a shifty smirk and pointed to the empty chair. Without delay, Doumeki left the sly sorcerer to find Watanuki.

* * *

"And where do you think you're going, Watanuki?" said Shinyou.

"Surely you're not leaving so soon," said Shinrai.

"Will you just get out of my way?" said Watanuki, frustrated. Shinyou and Shinrai wouldn't budge.

"Where's that friend of yours?" asked Shinyou slyly.

"Did he leave you?" added Shinrai.

"No," said the voice of Doumeki, who took Watanuki's arm and pulled him aside before the girls could do or say anything else.

"Doumeki, what are you doing?" asked Watanuki angrily. "You don't just come up from behind and grab someone like that!"

"Fukinkou and his helpers are bad news," said Doumeki without emotion, "I won't have you letting your guard down."

"Didn't I just say I can see something's up with that guy?!" Watanuki retorted.

"Then don't you think we should get out of here before things get bad?" asked Doumeki.

"What do you mean, bad?" said Fukinkou, appearing behind them unexpectedly. Watanuki and Doumeki turned around in surprise.

"N-N-Nothing," said Watanuki fearfully.

"Settle down," said Fukinkou, "you have nothing to worry about."

The cloud appeared again, this time bigger and even more foul-smelling than before; it almost seemed to Watanuki that it could soon fill up the entire room. Something was now undeniably dodgy about Fukinkou, just _what_ Watanuki still didn't know. But one way or another, Doumeki was right: it _would_ be best to get out as soon as possible.

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah…yeah…sure…" said Watanuki, hesitantly moving away from the sorcerer, "but…but…but we should probably be leaving now…"

"What's the rush?" asked Fukinkou. "I haven't even gotten the chance to show you around!"

"We're sorry," said Doumeki, following the seer.

"Come on, hurry," Watanuki muttered to Doumeki. They soon reached the door…but Shinyou and Shinrai blocked the way.

"You can't leave now," said Shinyou.

"Master's not done with you yet," said Shinrai.

Doumeki and Watanuki looked behind them to see Fukinkou closing his eyes tightly, evidently using his magic to make a glowing red and white ball of flame materialize in his fist. Then, grinning wickedly, he hurled the fireball at the archer and seer. The two of them quickly dodged it, causing it to hit a nearby vase instead.

"You were right all along, Doumeki!" Watanuki shrieked, pointing at the vase that the flame had now melted into a gelatinous soggy substance. "If we hang around this nutjob any longer we're done for!"

Doumeki took Watanuki by the hand and dashed up the stairs. "Come on," he said, "there might be another way out of here."

"Master! Master!" said Shinyou, pointing frantically.

"They're getting away!" said Shinrai.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Fukinkou shouted, running up the stairs after them.

When Watanuki and Doumeki reached the top of the stairs, they found themselves confronted with several doors. Impulsively, Watanuki began hastily trying to open the first one he saw…but to no avail.

"Open it!" Doumeki demanded, looking behind to see Fukinkou gaining on them.

"That's what I'm trying to do, moron!" Watanuki barked. "It won't open!"

Doumeki pushed the frustrated seer away from the doorknob and tried opening the door on his own.

"What are you doing now?" asked Watanuki angrily.

Just as Fukinkou was about to reach the top of the stairs, Doumeki at last managed to open the door. "You weren't turning it hard enough," he said to Watanuki as they quickly entered the room.

"Are you trying to say I'm weak?!" Watanuki yelled.

"This is no time for arguing," said Doumeki, slamming the door behind them as hard as he could. Within seconds they could hear Fukinkou pounding on the door crazily.

"You're not getting away!" the sorcerer shouted. "I'll kick down this door if I have to!"

Watanuki fretfully glanced around the room, looking for some means of escape. He saw nothing. Fukinkou's pounding grew louder, and cold terror ran through Watanuki's bones.

"Great! Just great!" he said to Doumeki angrily and sarcastically. "We're trapped and it's all your fault!"

"You're the one who chose to open this door," said Doumeki.

Filled with panic and rage, Watanuki grabbed Doumeki's collar and shook him violently. "Fine then, smarty-pants!" he roared. "If you think you know everything then **GET US OUT OF HERE!**"

Doumeki yanked Watanuki's hands away and began thoroughly searching the room.

The pounding was now louder than ever, and was accompanied by the dreadful sound of the door beginning to break down.

"Hurry up!" Watanuki screamed. "Are you _trying _to get us killed?"

At last Doumeki noticed something. There was a small window on one side of the room, something Watanuki was perhaps too panicked to have noticed.

"Come over here," he said to Watanuki, grabbing him by the arm and leading him to the window.

"What is it with you and grabbing me?!" Watanuki said.

"This window," said Doumeki, pointing at it, "this is our escape."

Doumeki, gathering all his strength, forcefully unbolted the tight latch on the window. He then took Watanuki by the hand and got up on the windowsill, cautious of his footing. It was then that Watanuki remembered they were on the second story of the mansion…which meant…

"All right, on the count of three…" Doumeki began.

"You…you mean we're gonna **jump down?!**" Watanuki said, alarmed.

"Relax," said Doumeki, "I think I see a bush down there that could cushion our fall."

The loud kicks continued, and the awful creaking now sounded as though the door was going to give way at any second.

"A-A-Are you sure you don't see another way out?" Watanuki asked timorously.

"One…two…" said Doumeki, preparing to jump.

"Doumeki, I…I really don't thi--" Watanuki began.

Presently there was a violent crashing sound signifying Fukinkou's entry.

"…three!" Doumeki clutched Watanuki's hand tightly and jumped down, pulling the panicky seer down with him. Within seconds the two landed in a jumble of bushes, just as Doumeki had predicted. Unfortunately, the archer had failed to notice that it was a bunch of _thorny _bushes.

"Yeeeeeeeooooow!" Watanuki shrieked, leaping up out of the bushes in pain. Doumeki felt pain as well, but remained his usual unruffled self and crawled out carefully lest hastily emerging cause even more thorns to prick him.

"Nice going, Doumeki!" Watanuki yelled, irritably plucking thorns out his arms. "Now look what you've--_ow!_--done!"

"They're only small thorns," said Doumeki, also pulling a few out of his skin and hair. "We'd better get out of here before he finds us. Come on." He began to take off, motioning for Watanuki to follow him.

The two ran swiftly through the woods until at last Doumeki determined they were out of danger and could slow down. As Watanuki leaned against a tree to catch his breath, he caught sight of Doumeki standing behind him with his eyes on a particular spot…

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Watanuki yelled. "This is no time to be staring at my butt, pervert!"

"You've got thorns in it," Doumeki said bluntly. "A lot of them."

Alarmed, Watanuki ran his hands over his rump and discovered (painfully) that Doumeki was correct.

"Ohh boy…"

* * *

(1) This is a reference to the movie.

A/N: Forgive me for taking so long to update; this chapter gave me a really hard time for some reason.


	8. A New Plan

_**CHAPTER SEVEN:**_

"Well, now, did we learn something today?" said Yuko mockingly with a smile.

"Yes," said Watanuki grumpily, "when somebody--_ow!_--tells you to jump out of a window into a thorn bush, don't--_eeeyow!--_listen."

Yuko was laying back on the couch the way she typically did, and Watanuki sat in front of the couch kneeling on the floor while another assistant of Yuko's, the hyperactive little black puffball named Mokona, stood behind the seer pulling the thorns out of his rear end.

"That's not quite what I meant," said Yuko, the condescending tone now gone from her voice. "Tell me in more detail what happened at Fukinkou's mansion."

"Well, the two girls were there," said Watanuki, "and it turns out they're his helpers, and apparently--_oww!_--they told Fukinkou a lot of stuff about me."

"Such as?" Yuko asked.

"They didn't exactly say," said Watanuki, "but Fukinkou said something about how they told him I could be useful to him…" he paused, remembering, "…and then something weird happened…when he said that, there was this black smoke all around him, almost exactly like those collectors at that other mansion."

"And you remember that the smoke you saw then was their greed?" said Yuko.

"Yes," said Watanuki. "Anyway, Doumeki told me that Fukinkou was up to no good and that we should--_oooww!_--leave, but then the girls blocked the door and Fukinkou tried to throw this weird fireball at us--_yeeeouch!_" Watanuki turned and glared at Mokona. "You don't have to pull so hard, you know!"

"Well maybe if you would sit still it wouldn't hurt so much," said Mokona.

"I _am_ sitting still, you--you stupid little bunny!" Watanuki shouted.

"Mokona's not a bunny!" Mokona retorted. "Mokona is Mokona!"

"Hush, you two," said Yuko. "Now, what happened next, Watanuki?"

"Doumeki and I ran upstairs and hid in one of the rooms, but Fukinkou kept trying to kick the door down. Then Doumeki found a window for us to get out through, but since we were upstairs we had to jump down…and we landed in a thorn bush…" he pointed to his behind, "…and that's how I ended up with thorns in my--_oowww!_"He felt another sharp pain in that particular area as Mokona removed yet another thorn.

"Well, looks like that's the last of them," said Mokona.

"Are you sure?" asked Watanuki.

"Yep…no, wait, there's one more…and it's a big one. Hold still." Mokona gave the large thorn a tug, but it seemed this one wasn't going to come out easily. He pulled harder and harder until at last he was able to forcefully yank it out. The strength of his pull sent him rolling backwards on the floor, as well as…

"**YEEEEEEEEEEEEEOUCH!" **

…causing Watanuki more pain in his rump than ever.

Mokona then sprang to his feet, holding up the thorn as if it were a prize of some kind. "Ta-da!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Sounds like your visit was quite…eventful," said Yuko to Watanuki. "Do you think your curiosity has been satisfied now?"

"What curiosity?" asked Watanuki.

"Your curiosity about the girls and why I advised you to be wary of them." Yuko replied.

Watanuki was silent, mulling this over.

"You saw that they were helpers of Fukinkou, correct?" said Yuko. Watanuki nodded yes.

"And what did Fukinkou try to do to you?"

"He…he apparently wanted to kill Doumeki and I," Watanuki answered somewhat uncomfortably. "But…why?"

"You saw his greed, did you not?" asked Yuko.

"Yes," said Watanuki, "but what does that have to do with it?"

"Fukinkou is a person with such unbridled greed that he will do absolutely anything to get what he desires…_anything,_" said Yuko. "Even if it involves murder."

"But…but why _me?_" asked Watanuki anxiously. "What could he have possibly wanted from me?"

"Fukinkou is also someone who simply cannot be content with what he already has," said Yuko. "His greatest desire upon coming to the shop was the freedom to dabble in magic without fear of death, therefore I not only granted his wish, but put him on a par with the supernatural as his compensation. That sounds like something a sorcerer like him should be perfectly grateful for, doesn't it?"

"I'd say so…I guess," said Watanuki.

"But he remains weak, and therefore thinks he would be better off with more…such as a greater power that happens to belong to someone else…" she looked the seer straight in the eyes, "…_your_ power, Watanuki. Your ability to attract spirits effortlessly."

"But…but…but…how does he know about that?" Watanuki asked, his eyes wide with shock.

"His helpers," said Yuko simply and sternly. "The girls."

"Wh-wh-wh-what?" Watanuki stammered, greatly baffled.

"That was what they meant when they told Fukinkou you'd be of use to him," said Yuko.

"But how…how could they have known?" asked Watanuki. "I never told them! How could they have found out?"

Yuko smiled cleverly. "That was what Doumeki and I meant when we both told you they weren't normal. They knew it without you ever telling them."

"So are they psychic or what?" said Watanuki.

"No…remember, due to his immortality, spirits and other supernatural beings regard Fukinkou as one of their kind. With this kind of affinity, surely he could make such beings his allies, couldn't he?"

Watanuki thought this over and was stunned. Now everything was at last beginning to make sense…their attraction to him, how they stayed away when Doumeki was with him, how they knew of his ability…

"So…so that's what you and Doumeki were trying to tell me all this time," said Watanuki in astonishment. "That they're not human."

"And they led you right into Fukinkou's trap," said Yuko. "You should be grateful Doumeki went into the trap along with you, otherwise it's unlikely you would have made it out alive."

Watanuki sighed angrily and shook his head. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that Yuko was right. He had been trying so hard to rise above his hatred of Doumeki, but no matter how many times the archer had saved his life, and in what ways, overcoming those feelings just seemed like such a superhuman feat…

…for the moment, perhaps.

Great efforts take time.

* * *

"Where are they?!?" Fukinkou roared, wrathfully searching the woods around his mansion.

"You saw the open window," said Shiroimi, who was following him along with Kuroimi, "they obviously escaped."

"I know that, you fools!" shouted Fukinkou. "I'm not blind!" He stopped, angrily panting. "They've got to be here somewhere," he said, looking around in all directions, "the forest is too immense and dark for them to find their way out easily."

"Master, we gave them a map," said Shiroimi.

"Yes, they obviously didn't get lost on their way _to_ the mansion," said Kuroimi, "why would it be any different on their way _out?_"

"**WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS PESTER ME WITH DETAILS?!?" **Fukinkou shouted at full volume; had he been any louder the trees might have fallen over. "And why did you insist that he bring along the other boy? If he had been alone, I'm sure this would have been a thousand times easier!"

"Because you said that in order to kill Watanuki, you needed to kill his friend as well," said Shiroimi.

"But it has turned out to be counterproductive" said Kuroimi, "since he's evidently Watanuki's rescuer in these types of situations,"

"**DETAILS!"** Fukinkou bellowed again. Had Shiroimi and Kuroimi been human, his voice would have ruptured their eardrums.

Fukinkou sighed. "Though…perhaps _that _detail would have been useful," he muttered crossly, "but you idiots just _had _to wait until _after _I wasted my pyrokinesis! You know that given my weak powers, it only seldom works!" He raised the fist he had used earlier for said pyrokinesis at his assistants.

"That had nothing to do with us telling you anything," said Shiroimi.

"They dodged your fireball," said Kuroimi, "you saw them do it."

"**DETAILS, DETAILS, **_**DETAILS!" **_The fact that the sorcerer had not yet exhausted his vocal cords was a miracle.

"Master!" Shiroimi exclaimed.

"Shouting will not solve anything! Stop it!" Kuroimi pleaded.

"Fine, whatever," said Fukinkou with a peevish sigh, "the fact remains that he escaped because of the other boy!"

"But you said you needed to kill them both, therefore we brought them both to you," said Shiroimi.

"Maybe you should have thought this plan through a little better?" said Kuroimi.

"First you annoy me with details, and now you criticize my planning!" Fukinkou yelled. "Do you **enjoy** making me angry?!?"

"Master…enough," said Shiroimi.

"Your attempt failed and there's nothing that can be done," said Kuroimi.

"Unless…you can come up with something else," added Shiroimi. "A new plan."

"Of course I can come up with a new plan!" said Fukinkou. "I'll have that spirit-magnet's blood on my hands if it's the last thing I do!" He paused, mulling over what his new strategy might be…and while considering why his previous scheme had been so unsuccessful, it hit him.

"Perhaps…the other boy's loyalty…might just prove to be an advantage." He grinned and laughed to himself despicably.


	9. Capture

_**CHAPTER EIGHT:**_

"So that creep is immortal?" said Doumeki prior to popping a soybean into his mouth.

He and Watanuki were having lunch together outside, with Himawari elsewhere, something which Watanuki was exceedingly unhappy about. However, he felt the need to discuss the close call with Fukinkou further after his talk with Yuko the night before, and it was something that would be best discussed between just the two of them. After all, they were the ones who went through it.

"Yes," said Watanuki, "according to Yuko, the magic he was trying to use was too strong for him. So he went to Yuko and wished to be immortal so the magic wouldn't kill him. But in order for him to be immortal, he had to become inhuman."

"Why was he trying to kill us?" asked Doumeki.

"Yuko said he's jealous of my spirit-attracting abilities," said Watanuki.

"Why? It doesn't sound like it's something you particularly enjoy."

"Well, he doesn't know that."

Doumeki contemplated this as he finished off his can of soda.

"What did she say about Shinyou and Shinrai?" he asked. Neither he nor Watanuki had seen them at all that day, leading both of them to wonder if their absence had anything to do with Fukinkou.

"She didn't really say, but it seems like they're spirits in disguise," said Watanuki.

"Like I tried to tell you all along?" said Doumeki.

"You didn't tell me anything!" Watanuki shouted.

"Didn't I tell you that they weren't normal?"

"Well, you…you-you-you never said anything about them being spirits!"

Doumeki nonchalantly stuck his fingers in his ears. "You're going to make me go deaf one of these days."

Little did the argument-prone twosome know, Shinyou and Shinrai were indeed present, hiding in the bushes nearby and watching them intently.

"Now's our chance," whispered Shinyou to Shinrai with a grin. "Do you have it ready?"

Shinrai nodded, holding up a small vial of clear liquid.

"Then let's get it over with before they see us." The two of them reached out and grabbed Watanuki's soda can as stealthily as they could. They then poured the liquid into it and carefully put it back.

"And now we wait," said Shinrai with a sly chuckle.

They didn't have long to wait, as Watanuki took a sip of it moments later. To his surprise the drink now had a slight sourness, enough to make him grimace and smack his lips in disgust.

"Something wrong with that soda?" asked Doumeki.

"I don't know," said Watanuki. "It just tasted different all of a sudden…" He took another, bigger mouthful, thinking maybe he had just imagined the difference in flavor.

"How does it taste different?" asked Doumeki.

"It's weird," said Watanuki, "It's kinda…bitter…" Before he could say anything else, a peculiar woozy feeling came over him, his head hurt, and his eyesight grew blurry. Astonished, he blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear his vision, something that only seemed to make it all worse.

"Ooohh…what the…?" he groaned, clutching his throbbing head.

"Are you feeling alright?" said Doumeki.

Watanuki's dazed feeling intensified, and his surroundings seemed to be bizarrely warped into a monstrous mess of shapes and colors, like a soggy kaleidoscope. Then suddenly and dreadfully he found himself unable to think clearly, and he began groggily looking all around in confusion.

"I said, are you feeling alright?" Doumeki repeated, alarmed by the seer's stupefied gaze.

"I…daaaaahhhh…" Watanuki groaned, "Is…is this reeeaaaaal?"

"What?" asked Doumeki, perplexed.

Watanuki then held his hands in front of his face, staring at them as though astounded. "I…I have haaaaaaaaands…"

"Of course you do," said Doumeki, pulling Watanuki's hands away. "Now, whatever's wrong with you, snap out of it."

Watanuki turned to the archer, staring at his blank yet vaguely concerned face in much the same way he had stared at his hands.

"Whaaaaaaaa…" Watanuki slurred, his eye twitching. "You…you have six eyeeeees…"

"Stop it!" Doumeki exclaimed, slapping Watanuki's face. It had little effect on him.

"Daaaaaaaahh…I can't feel anythiiiiiing…!" Watanuki yowled.

"That's enough!" Doumeki said, slapping the seer again, harder. "What's the matter with you?"

Watanuki blinked and tilted his head to the side, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Whaaaaaaa…don't…don't do that agaaaaain…" he groaned. "I see…I see such pretty thiiiiiiiings!" He grinned and laughed stupidly like a drunken hyena.

Doumeki scowled, giving Watanuki another slap that almost knocked him down. "Did you hear me, idiot? Cut it out right now!"

"I…I…oooooohhhh…they're coming to get meeeeeeee!" Watanuki closed his eyes, slumped backwards, and fainted, his arm twitching slightly for a moment.

"Watanuki!" Doumeki shouted, violently shaking the unconscious seer. "Get up!"

The bushes rustled, and the archer looked to see Shinyou and Shinrai emerging with fiendish grins on their faces.

"What have you done?" Doumeki demanded, rising to his feet.

"What makes you so sure that _we_ did this?" said Shinyou.

"He told me all about you and that master of yours," said Doumeki, enraged but straight-faced. "but I always knew there was something shady about you."

"**I told you** he was on to us!" Shinrai yelled at her sister.

"Hush!" replied Shinyou.

Doumeki grew angrier. So they knew of his suspicion and watchfulness all along and yet it did not deter them?

"Answer me this time," he said, pointing to Watanuki, "what did you do to him?"

Shinyou glared at the archer. "If you must know," she began, "Master Fukinkou instructed us to…give Watanuki a little something."

Shinrai held up the empty vial. "We slipped it into that soda."

Doumeki grabbed the vial and examined it. No label. He raised it to his nose and sniffed, flinching in revulsion. Whatever had been in it (and the soda) had a pungent acidic stench, and its taste was likely just as unpleasant. No wonder Watanuki had complained.

"So he told you to knock him out with this," said Doumeki. "Why?"

"That's none of your business!" Shinyou snapped. "I think you already know too much."

"Yeah, maybe I do," said Doumeki, staring the loathsome duo down with furious gravity. "I know you aren't human, and that your master wants to kill Watanuki out of his jealousy."

"**WHAT?!?" **Shinrai exclaimed, her eyes shocked and livid.

"And how do you know?" Shinyou demanded, equally as appalled.

"Watanuki told me," Doumeki replied bluntly.

"Well…he certainly won't be telling you anything else!" said Shinyou proudly and wickedly. She then grabbed Watanuki and slung him over her shoulders. "Now if you'll excuse us, we've got to bring Master his prize."

"And you're going to try and rescue him again, aren't you?" Shinrai added mockingly.

Doumeki's eyes narrowed. _Of course_ he was going to do that. Why did they feel the need to provoke him so? Still he remained unflustered and did not give in.

"Giving us the silent treatment, hmm?" said Shinrai. "Oh well, it doesn't matter!"

"Just run, run, as fast as you can, O great rescuer!" Shinyou taunted as she ran off, still carrying the comatose seer on her back.

"We always knew Watanuki here was to _die_ for!" Shinrai shouted, following her sister. "Don't you agree, Doumeki?"

Without hesitation, Doumeki grabbed his bow and tore after them. Shinrai may have been goading him, and he didn't exactly know what she was trying to imply, but yes, he agreed wholeheartedly.

* * *

A/N: Again I apologize for the long wait...getting ready for the holidays and whatnot was keeping me awfully busy. I'll try my best not to make you wait so long for forthcoming chapters.


	10. Rescue

_**CHAPTER NINE:**_

The first thing Watanuki became aware of upon groggily opening his eyes at last was a excruciating, throbbing pain in his head; the other was a very disgusting aftertaste in his mouth. Grinding his teeth in agony, he languidly sat up, rubbing his forehead in a feeble attempt to ease the pain…pain that was only made worse when he bumped his head…on what seemed to be a ceiling.

A ceiling?

Where on Earth _was_ he?

All around him was pitch-dark and muggy. He felt around his surroundings in confusion, but felt nothing but hard stone walls…and cold metal bars on one particular side.

"What the…?" Watanuki muttered to himself, alarmed. "A cell?"

At that moment he heard a door creaking open and the click of a light being turned on. Turning his head in the direction of the sounds, he saw Fukinkou descending a small set of stairs with a shrewd smile, two snarling Hellhounds accompanying him. Quickly glancing elsewhere around the room, Watanuki gathered that his cell was in some sort of cellar underneath Fukinkou's mansion.

"Fukinkou!" Watanuki exclaimed, furiously clutching the bars of the cell. "What are you…l-l-l-let me out! Let me out of here!"

"Oh, you can't leave so soon," said Fukinkou, approaching the cell, "my pets haven't been fed yet!"

The two Hellhounds ran to the front of the cell and poked their heads in between the bars, barking madly and licking their chops.

"Ehh heh heh…no, no…bad doggies…" Watanuki whimpered, backing away, "you-you-you-you don't w-w-want me…look, I'm…I'm nothing but skin and bones!"

"Oh, it doesn't matter in the least to them," said Fukinkou with a laugh. "And besides, worst-case-scenario, all you'd need is a bit of stuffing. But…I suppose that may have to wait." Fukinkou then beckoned the Hellhounds back to him.

"That's enough funny business, Fukinkou!" Watanuki yelled. "Now how did I wind up in here?"

"Oh, so you don't remember?" said Fukinkou. "Weren't you…drinking something?"

Watanuki's eyes widened. "That's…that's right…my soda tasted strange…"

"Yes…I instructed my assistants to drug it," Fukinkou continued, "and once you had gone beddy-bye, they brought you to me."

"But…but wasn't Doumeki with me when I passed out?" asked Watanuki. "What did they do with him?"

"Oh, he should be here any time now," said Fukinkou, "considering you are such _wonderful_ bait…"

"Bait?"

"He's quite dedicated to your well-being, is he not?"

Watanuki was stunned. Fukinkou knew of Doumeki's steadfast defending of him, and was going to take advantage of it? As much as Doumeki annoyed him, Watanuki couldn't help but be revolted by the sheer cruelty of this.

Then, right on cue, an arrow came whizzing through the air, striking the first of the two Hellhounds and causing it to disappear in an ugly fog. Then less than a second later, another arrow struck the other, causing both seer and sorcerer to look in the direction of the arrows in surprise. There stood Doumeki, bow and arrow in hand, with a look of enraged determination on his face.

"Doumeki!" Watanuki shouted.

Doumeki stomped down the stairs, glaring at Fukinkou. "Let him go."

"Ha! Is that the best you can do, mighty archer man?" said Fukinkou sarcastically. "You really think I'd let your _precious _Watanuki here go that easily? You're that naïve?"

Doumeki said nothing and continued descending the stairs, Watanuki watching him with wide, anticipating eyes.

"But perhaps it's good that you showed up when you did," said Fukinkou. "I'm rather eager to get this all over with."

"I said let him go…_now._" said Doumeki.

"Oh, I'll let him go, all right," said Fukinkou, laughing portentously. He then raised a fist, clenching it tightly as if gathering his strength. "Just as soon as…_you_ go!"

He clenched tighter, to the point that his fingernails nearly dug through his skin, but nothing happened.

"Gah…not again!" Fukinkou wailed, stamping his foot. "Blasted pyrokinesis!"

Seeing the sorcerer fuss in such a fashion, when only minutes earlier he was acting so wickedly smug, made Watanuki want to laugh. He placed a hand over his mouth in an attempt to suppress the laughter creeping up his gullet.

"And what is so funny?" Fukinkou snarled. Watanuki cringed and quite promptly quieted down.

Growing ever more frustrated, Fukinkou crossly turned away from the infuriated archer and the imprisoned seer, groaning and vehemently trying to summon all his power.

Seeing an opportunity, Doumeki rapidly scanned the cellar, his gaze soon falling on a hook high above Watanuki's cell…with four keys hanging on it. The keys to the cell, perhaps? Doumeki wasn't sure, but he stood up on his toes and grabbed them without hesitation.

"Where did you find those?" Watanuki asked eagerly.

"Shh!" Doumeki raised a finger to his lips, then motioned at the still-struggling sorcerer with a jerk of his head. He then fumbled with the keys, trying the first one.

Nothing.

He tried the other, Watanuki tensely watching the archer's every move.

Still not the right key.

"Hurry, idiot!" hissed Watanuki.

"I'm trying!" Doumeki replied.

The third key fared no better than the others.

"It must be this last one," mumbled Doumeki.

"What if it isn't?" Watanuki whispered nervously. "What if they have nothing to do with this ce-"

"Be quiet!"

At last the archer had found the correct key, and Watanuki was freed. Doumeki then grabbed him by the sleeve and they quietly but swiftly departed the cellar.

Seconds later, Fukinkou had at last succeeded in generating a fireball, and, emitting a loud cry of elation, turned around to where he assumed Doumeki was still standing…but he was gone…and even worse, Watanuki had escaped!

"WHAT? NO! NO!"

Fukinkou violently threw his fireball on the ground with an enraged scream, then bolted up the stairs.

"Shiroimi! Kuroimi!" he called out upon exiting the cellar.

They came running down the mansion's main stairs.

"What now, Master Fukinkou?" asked Shiroimi.

"We brought Watanuki to you and lured Doumeki here, what do you want now?" said Kuroimi.

"They…they…they…THEY GOT AWAY!"

"What do you mean?" said Shiroimi.

"How did that happen?" said Kuroimi.

"It…it was all going according to plan at first," said Fukinkou, "Doumeki had arrived and I was about to kill him with my pyrokinesis, but…but…GAH! The minute my back was turned…! Blast it all!"

"Maybe you should have known better than to turn your back on them to begin with," said Shiroimi disdainfully.

"**THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NO TIME FOR YOU AND YOUR **_**DETAILS!**_**" **Fukinkou roared at the top of his lungs. "Just…just…" he stood panting and grinding his teeth, trying to settle down. "Just…rally the Hellhounds! Now! Every single last one of them!"

"And what good will that do?" asked Shiroimi.

"Watanuki and Doumeki may have already gotten quite far by now," added Kuroimi.

"**DON'T QUESTION ME!"** shouted Fukinkou. "Just rally them and see to it that they show them no mercy!"

Shiroimi and Kuroimi departed the mansion to do as they were told. As they passed by the sorcerer, they both gave him an irritated glare that he scarcely noticed.

Fukinkou himself left the mansion moments later. He still wanted to see the ensuing carnage firsthand, after all.


	11. Showdown

_**CHAPTER TEN:**_

Doumeki and Watanuki continued running through the forest and away from the mansion as fast as they could. After jumping over a large log in their path, they slowed down and stopped to catch their breath.

Panting, Watanuki looked behind him.

"Do you think…do you think we're safe now?" he asked Doumeki.

"I don't know," said Doumeki, also looking over his shoulder, "he definitely seemed determined to get to you. If he's noticed that you got out, he's bound to come after you."

Watanuki cringed. Then something occurred to him.

"Doumeki…if it's me he's after, why was he trying to kill you too?"

"I don't know," said Doumeki, "but he's not getting to you without getting past me first."

Watanuki gasped, awestruck at this declaration of selflessness from the archer.

"You run on ahead and try to get back home," Doumeki continued after a moment's pause. "I'll deal with Fukinkou."

And right then and there any appreciation Watanuki was feeling towards Doumeki perished.

"You…you just expect me to go wandering around here on my own?" Watanuki shouted.

"It's not safe for you to stay out here if he's after you," Doumeki replied firmly.

Watanuki frowned. "Fine then!" he retorted, turning in the opposite direction. "If I wind up getting lost or falling off a cliff or drowning or…_whatever_…the blame's on you!" Then he sprinted off without delay.

Doumeki's eyes widened as he suddenly realized that he was putting Watanuki in an equal amount of jeopardy by letting him go on his own.

"Wait!" Doumeki called out. But Watanuki was already gone.

Doumeki groaned and shook his head, then ran off to try and follow the livid seer.

* * *

"That jerk…!" Watanuki muttered angrily to himself as he ran, too infuriated to pay any heed to where he was headed. "Oh sure, he can make it _seem like _he's trying to look out for me, but for him to just shoo me off like that…GAH!"

When he made his way to a small clearing, he heard the sound of footsteps close by, along with a rustling in the grass and bushes.

He stopped running.

Could it be? Could the archer have had a change of heart?

"Doumeki?"

No answer, but the sounds persisted.

"Doumeki, is that you?"

Still no answer, but now it seemed like multiple footsteps.

Watanuki groaned. "Don't mess with me, Doumeki! Come on!"

This time, he _did_ get an answer…in the form of low growls from all sides.

It was certainly not Doumeki…

Watanuki gulped and frantically looked all around him. There were pairs of red eyes on all sides of the clearing. Whatever was there, it had him surrounded and trapped.

Then it hit him that he would be much, _much _better off had Doumeki been in this clearing with him to ward off whatever menacing things these were. And he had been trying so very hard to accept the fact that as annoying as Doumeki could be, he was still a much valuable presence in such times of trouble…a true friend he could count on…

And now Doumeki had let him down.

An odd pang of despair, terror and abandonment resounded in his very core, something he didn't expect to feel regarding the archer…

Nor did he expect the large amounts of Hellhounds suddenly springing at him from all sides.

He tried to flee, but was quickly overwhelmed by the huge pack pinning him down, biting and clawing and tearing at him with all their might.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! DOUMEKI!" Screamed Watanuki, struggling. "DOUMEKI, YOU FOOL! **THEY'RE EATING MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**"

* * *

Doumeki was off in the distance searching for the seer when suddenly he heard a wailing shriek of pain that made his blood run cold.

Without a moment's hesitation he tore off in the direction of the sound, his furiously determined gaze masking the fear and dread in his heart.

He arrived at the clearing and found a mass of Hellhounds attacking their prey, the screams of which were unmistakably familiar.

Almost instinctively, Doumeki grabbed his bow and fired off as many arrows as he possibly could at the pack. Many vanished, some retreated, some left their prey behind and tried to attack him as well, but of the latter, he gave them a powerful kick in the teeth that sent them retreating as well.

Finally when all of them were gone in some form or another, Doumeki apprehensively approached what they had been attacking.

It was Watanuki. He knew it.

The seer was lying motionless with his clothes ripped and torn, and bleeding quite badly with numerous bite and claw marks all over him.

"Watanuki?" Doumeki asked gently.

Watanuki lay still.

Doumeki crouched down on his knees and prodded him. "Watanuki?"

Nothing.

"Watanuki, get up!" Doumeki demanded, prodding him harder and shaking him.

"Get up!"

Still nothing.

Doumeki stared sorrowfully at his wounded friend, his eyes wide with remorse. He lifted the seer into his arms and laid his head down on his shoulder.

Doumeki seldom cried, but in that moment he felt he nearly would. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply and tried his hardest to swallow back his tears.

Then he felt Watanuki stir slightly and heard him grunt feebly.

Doumeki's eyes shot wide open. Was the seer alive after all?

"Watanuki?"

Watanuki lifted his head and blearily opened his eyes, staring at Doumeki in confusion…and then he realized what was going on.

"EEEEYAAAAAAHHH!" Watanuki shrieked, tearing himself away from the archer's grasp. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"I thought you were dead," Doumeki said harshly.

"Well then next time, _think_ before telling me to just go trotting off by myself, moron!"

"Shut up! You want Fukinkou to hear you?"

Doumeki's severe demeanor pleasingly hid his relief…to say nothing of the horror he felt thinking about what could have happened!

"Come on, let's get out of here," said Doumeki, rising to his feet. "Can you stand up?"

"Of course I can!" said Watanuki, though in actuality he was struggling to do so. He managed to unsteadily walk over to Doumeki, then he clutched his side and hunched over in agony.

"What's wrong?" asked Doumeki.

"It…it…it hurts…" groaned Watanuki. Doumeki looked and saw that Watanuki was clutching at a particularly bad claw wound in his side, blood running between his fingers.

"You need to suppress the bleeding," said Doumeki, "otherwise you're going to be leaving a convenient trail behind for those Hellhounds."

"What should I do?" asked Watanuki.

Doumeki thought for a moment. "Take your shirt off."

Despite being in pain, Watanuki still had enough strength to slap the archer with his free hand and declare "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"I don't mean get naked," said Doumeki, nonchalantly rubbing his cheek, "just take it off, bunch it up and press it against you."

Watanuki sighed angrily and did as he was told.

"Now," said Doumeki, beginning to head off, "let's go."

* * *

Moments later another pair of Hellhounds, accompanied by Shiroimi and Kuroimi, entered the clearing. The two ferocious canines immediately rushed to the puddle of blood near where Watanuki had been lying unconscious, sniffing vehemently and barking madly.

"Master Fukinkou!" Shiroimi called out. "Master Fukinkou!"

"He was here!" added Kuroimi.

Fukinkou came charging through the bushes at once, outraged at the discovery that the seer had eluded him once again.

"YOU IDIOTS!" shouted Fukinkou. "This time he got away on _your _watch! _You_ were the ones who sent that pack after him and Doumeki! And where is that pack now?"

"We'll find them soon enough, Master Fukinkou," said Shiroimi.

"And Watanuki and Doumeki as well," said Kuroimi. "Please, Master…enough of this fury!"

"SILENCE!"

Fukinkou looked attentively at the Hellhounds and the puddle of blood they had discovered.

"Listen, you fools!" He barked at his assistants. "The pack did their damage. Watanuki is surely injured and weak now…" a vile, triumphant grin came upon his face, "…this is my perfect chance! **Ha ha ha ha! You're all mine now, spirit magnet!**" He then dashed off, laughing manically.

"Master Fukinkou!" Shiroimi called out.

"What about us?" said Kuroimi. "And the Hellhounds?"

Fukinkou paused, cringing. **"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU! ALL OF YOU! YOU AND EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF THE HELLHOUNDS! YOU LEAVE THIS TO ME, UNDERSTAND?"**

Then he resumed his mad pursuit of the seer.

Shiroimi and Kuroimi once again glared at their master as he departed.

"And _we've_ had enough of you as well…Master Fukinkou." muttered Shiroimi.

* * *

Meanwhile, Doumeki and Watanuki continued trying to escape from the forest. Despite his suppression of the bleeding, Watanuki's wounds still caused him much agony, and it became harder and harder for him to run.

Doumeki noticed that the seer was slowing down. "You alright?"

Watanuki slowed down even more. "Do we…do we have to go…much further?"

"I don't know," said Doumeki.

"Can I…can I just rest a minute? It…still hurts…" Watanuki stopped and leaned himself against a tree, his teeth gnashed and eyes squeezed shut.

"No!" demanded Doumeki, shoving Watanuki away from the tree and forcing him to try and stand upright.

"You just don't care that I'm hurt, do you?" snapped the seer.

"Do you _want_ to get killed? You're going to have to get out of here! Come on!"

But before they could continue running away, Fukinkou caught up with them.

"Well, well, well…it's just as I suspected," the sorcerer said cunningly, "this is almost just too easy!" He looked Watanuki right in the eye with a malicious gaze that made him shudder.

Doumeki quickly stood in front of Watanuki, blocking him from Fukinkou. "Stand back," he said obstinately.

Fukinkou sneered at the archer. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

"I'd say you don't know when to quit either," said Doumeki, reaching for his bow and arrow while keeping his gaze fixed on Fukinkou. He pointed an arrow at the sorcerer, Watanuki watching keenly.

"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you."

"Ha! You really think that scares me? Your arrows are useless against me!"

Doumeki's eyes narrowed. "We'll just see about that."

Then he fired the arrow, striking Fukinkou in the chest…to no apparent effect.

"Oh really? I told you!" Fukinkou said with a laugh, yanking the arrow from his chest, leaving nothing but a bloodless wound…from which seeped a strange mist that only Watanuki could see.

"Doumeki, what did you do?" whispered Watanuki.

Doumeki was silent, unwaveringly staring the sorcerer down.

Fukinkou suddenly began to feel different…as though being drained of something. Or maybe not so different…thinking back, he felt much like he had felt five years prior…before Yuko had granted him immortality…

And then it dawned on him.

"You…you…oh, you didn't **dare!**"

"I did." said Doumeki. "Your immorality is gone."

Fukinkou's eyes grew wide, and he stood stock-still in awe. Now he was _completely _powerless…

"**NO MATTER! I'LL STILL HAVE HIS POWER! **_**I'LL RIP HIM APART WITH MY BARE HANDS IF I MUST!**_**"**

Fukinkou charged towards Watanuki. Doumeki, tossing his bow and arrow aside, defensively lunged back. He grabbed the sorcerer's arms and then, with all his strength, hurled him over the side of a nearby steep ditch.

He then quickly picked up his bow and arrow, took Watanuki by the hand and ran off.

Bruised and in pain from his fall, Fukinkou sat up, scowling as he watched them flee. Then he heard someone approaching behind him.

It was Shiroimi and Kuroimi, along with the rest of the Hellhound pack.

"There you are!" he bellowed. "Go after them! NOW!"

"No!" said Shiroimi harshly.

"You are beyond cruel, Fukinkou!" said Kuroimi, neither of them wishing to address him as "Master" any longer. "You never cared anything about our plight!"

"You only wanted us around for _your _twisted desires!" added Shiroimi.

Fukinkou gasped, a chill running down his spine.

"No…no…I'm…I'm sorry…please! F-F-F-Forgive me! Y-Y-You don't…you don't understand…! Please!"

His former assistants grinned slyly, looking at the Hellhounds standing beside them.

"Well, what do all of _you _think?" Shiroimi said to them.

"What should be done about him?" said Kuroimi.

The Hellhounds stared their former master down, then, teeth bared, they slowly approached him.

Fukinkou frantically tried to back away. With his immortality gone, he would be powerless against them. "No…no…no…! What…what are you doing? No! No! Have…have m-m-m-mercy on me…please! Please! I'm begging you!"

Those were the last words the fiendish sorcerer ever spoke, for at that moment, the Hellhounds leapt upon him and quite literally tore him to pieces.


	12. Lessons Learned

_**CHAPTER ELEVEN:**_

Watanuki let out a loud yelp of pain as the washcloths contacted his wounds.

"Hold still," said Maru, who held one of said washcloths.

"Hold still," said Moro, who held the other.

Watanuki gnashed his teeth and squeezed his eyes tightly shut, bracing himself for the sting of the medicine. Trying to heed Maru and Moro's admonitions, he stayed as calm as he could-but still he cringed violently and sucked air through his teeth as they placed the washcloths on him again.

As Watanuki sat quietly but quickly panting in pain, Maro and Moro laid the cloths down and began gingerly placing some bandages on him.

"Those are deep wounds," said Yuko, sitting nearby, "but they'll heal in time."

Watanuki grunted. "They're all Doumeki's fault if you ask me," he said. "If he hadn't told me to go off on my own, those stupid dogs wouldn't have found me!"

"That's not true," said Yuko. "They would have found you either way."

Watanuki turned to Yuko. "Why do you suppose that?"

"Fukinkou was determined to see you dead. He had his Hellhounds practically locked onto your scent. And Doumeki too."

"But why Doumeki?"

"Fukinkou was also determined to eliminate any obstacles in his path. Considering how Doumeki saved your skin during your visit to his mansion, Fukinkou likely saw him as one such obstacle."

Watanuki blinked, then timidly lowered his head. Now it made sense. "I…never considered that," he said. "Fukinkou really _was _a nutjob."

"There are times when desire can go so astray that one can be led to do things we would never even contemplate under normal circumstances. Our focus becomes narrowed down to that desire alone, and we don't care what we must forsake, or whom we will hurt. In his hunt for greater power, Fukinkou ended up losing a lot more than just his humanity…his very conscience disappeared."

"What happened when Doumeki shot him?" asked Watanuki.

"Fukinkou's immortality put him on a par with his spiritual assistants. Since Doumeki has the ability to repel spirits, his arrow removed Fukinkou's power. Yet even after losing his greatest asset as a sorcerer in the process of getting to you, he refused to let go of his desire, and ultimately, that led to his demise."

Yuko took a drag on her pipe. "I tried to warn him…but he learned his lesson too late."

Watanuki sat in silence, ruminating on Yuko's words and all he had experienced with Fukinkou and his helpers.

"Do you feel better, Watanuki?" asked Maru.

"Does it still hurt?" asked Moro.

Watanuki gently placed a hand on his bandaged side. "It's starting to feel a bit better…" He tried to get up and walk, but when he did so the pain returned with a sharp blow, and he immediately hunched over in agony.

"If you don't think you can walk home, you may stay here tonight," said Yuko.

"Really? Th-th-thanks," said a still-hurting Watanuki, slowly sitting back down on the floor.

Yuko smiled. "Hopefully you'll feel good enough in the morning to fix breakfast."

"Watanuki should make us pancakes!" chirped Maru.

"Watanuki should make us pancakes!" repeated Moro.

Watanuki groaned and clenched his fists, not letting his wounds hamper his display of irritation.

"Ah, but he ought to rest up before he does, right?" said Yuko to Maru and Moro. "Why don't you help him up and take him to bed?"

"Okay!" said Maru and Moro in unison. They both took him by the hands and helped him stand up, and guided him as he slowly made his way out of the room.

"Watanuki," said Yuko as Watanuki was leaving.

Watanuki stopped. "What?"

"There is a lesson you should heed from all this as well. Though you were relentlessly pursued by one who only saw you as a prize…you came out alive because of one who truly values you."

Watanuki sighed. He knew who she was talking about.

"And don't take him for granted."

After a moment's pause, Watanuki left the room, Maru and Moro still at his side.

* * *

Watanuki's wounds did indeed feel significantly better the next day, enough for him to make it to school with little trouble.

"So I guess Shiroimi and Kuroimi won't be coming back anymore," said Himawari during lunch.

"Yeah," said Watanuki.

"But that sounds like a pretty awful time you had, Watanuki," said Himawari. She looked at his bandages. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Oh, sure, sure!" said Watanuki happily. "They're still a little bit sore, but other than that I feel great!" Of course, he was over exaggerating somewhat, but he didn't want Himawari to be worried.

Watanuki then looked down at his bento and noticed that some of his veggies were missing…and he hadn't eaten them…

He looked to see Doumeki helping himself to said veggies.

"Hey! Those are mine! What's the matter with you?"

Himawari giggled. "At least you're feeling well enough to do your comedy routine with Doumeki!"

Watanuki sighed. _Maybe Yuko should have preached her little greed sermon last night to __**him**__ instead, _he thought crossly.

Still, he took another glance at the aloof archer. Feeling a slight pang from his wounds, he recalled what else Yuko had told him.

Though he wouldn't dare admit it, he appreciated his deadpan companion just a _little_ more now…a small step, but a step in the right direction nonetheless.

_**THE END**_


End file.
